Jun 23, 2012

Report Woman and Alzheimer's Disease, the Caregiver Crisis

A major new report on the dramatic toll Alzheimer's disease is taking on women in the U.S., who are shown to be the primary caregivers for loved ones, reveals an increasing cost to their personal and professional lives as well as their pocketbooks.

The study entitled Women and Alzheimer's Disease: The Caregiver's Crisis, surveyed 1,204 current and former caregivers who provide unpaid care for loved ones suffering from Alzheimer's disease and was commissioned by the Working Mother Research Institute and featured in the June/July issue of Working Mother magazine and online.

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Highlights of the findings include:

82% of current caregivers report keeping loved ones in their home or the patient's home. Of those women, 39% feel they have no other choice; only 16% of care is provided in a nursing facility.

Although three quarters of the current caregivers feel capable of providing care, 49% feel overwhelmed, 36% report depression, and 65% have not had a vacation in the past year.

The number of caregivers who live with their patients has doubled to 40% of current caregivers from 15% of former. Both nursing home and assistant living use has declined.

A whopping 84% say they themselves would want to be diagnosed early, and 51% wish their loved ones had been diagnosed sooner. Only a third of patients were diagnosed at the disease's early stage.

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